Expect the Unexpected
by The Button
Summary: After defeating Miraz, the Pevensies and their Protector discover that the White Witch is once again threatening the peace and tranquility of Narnia. Although this time, she has gone for a more subtle approach. - Edmund/OC -
1. Arrival in Narnia

**DISCLAIMER: ****I do not own any part of the wonderful world of Narnia. It strictly belongs to C.S. Lewis. All of the characters (except for Lily) belong to him.**

A/N: My first fanfic that's not an AU. I hope you guys like it.

Lily Walker had just walked out from the train station's washroom when she heard the distant echo of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" from the tunnel below her. Sighing she loosened her tie and rolled the sleeves of her white blouse just past her elbows.

"Here goes nothing." She murmured quietly to herself before making her way down the stairs, trying to push her way past the crowd that had gathered. "Oh, would you please MOVE?" she snapped harshly at a bulky looking kid. He glanced at her before moving a centimetre to the right. "Oh, you think you're so smart don't you?" she said huffily, she roughly pushed past him and observed the fighting boys before her.

Peter Pevensie, her best friend's older brother, was currently being knocked around and beaten up by a couple of surly looking boys. One of the boys had a crooked nose, suggesting that it had been broken a few times.

"S'cuse me." She said, tapping the boy with the crooked the nose on the shoulder, "But would you mind if I punched you in the face?"

The boy, obviously stunned that a girl would say such a thing to him, ceased moving for a moment and stared at the slim 5'8 girl that looked like a punch from her wouldn't hurt at all. Peter, taking advantage of this, socked the boy in the stomach.

"So I assume that's a yes?" she said, continuing on in her prim manner. The boy, preoccupied with trying to punch Peter repeatedly in the face didn't notice her left hand curl into a fist, nor did he notice it move back only to swing forward towards his face.

Lily's fist hit its mark. She repeated this action once more before bringing her other fist towards his stomach, sending the boy with the crooked nose out of commission for a while. While he was down, she kicked him in the side for good measure.

She turned her attention to the other boy; it was obvious that his vest was too small for him because he kept tugging at the sides during the fight. He was much bigger than the boy with the crooked nose and was having no problem wrestling Peter to the ground. Using her lightweight to her advantage, Lily launched herself onto the boy's back and wrapped her left arm around his neck, trying to hold him in a headlock. What she didn't expect was for the boy to drop to the ground and begin rolling. She lost her breath when the boy put his full weight on her stomach. He got up, and managed to kick her in the stomach before being punched in the face by Peter. Soon enough, another boy joined in the fight.

She didn't get a good glimpse of his face since she was on the floor trying to get up but she did manage to see that it was Edmund. Once she stood up, she was only given about two seconds to collect herself because she was promptly wrestled back down to the ground again, this time, by crooked-nose boy.

She managed to hit him the face with her right hand before she felt him tug at her tie. Her airway was quickly blocked off and she struggled to bring either one of her hands of to the crooked-nose boy's face. Somehow, at the back of her brain, she remembered that her legs were still able to kick the boy. She struggled for a moment to get into the right position before she brought her left knee forward, swiftly kicking him in the gut.

Crooked-nose boy dropped to floor, and rolled around, curled up in a ball. Feeling no sympathy, Lily kicked him again, this time in the face. His nose began to bleed and it looked like his nose was broken again. She barely noticed that the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight had suddenly began to disperse quite quickly. She heard sharp blasts of a whistle and she quickly tried to get in one last kick before she was pulled back roughly by a stern looking officer.

"Break it up, break it up!" he yelled roughly before giving one more sharp blast of his whistle. "Act your age!" he snapped at the remaining boys, who were glaring menacingly at each other. The officer pushed the boys in the opposite direction before walking away.

Peter nodded briefly at Lily before rubbing his right arm. Lily glanced uncertainly at Peter, wondering if he needed help, before dusting herself off and headed in the direction of where she left her luggage prior to the fight. When she reached her things, she felt a sharp pinch on her right arm.

"Ow!" she cried out sharply, she glanced around, trying to see who might've pinched her, but was surprised to see that no one was within arms reach of her. Frowning, she bent down and picked up her suitcase and was surprised to feel another pinch, this time, on her other arm.

There was a sudden burst of wind and one of the tags on her suitcases blew off and slipped under the storage room door. She scurried after it and opened the door, only to find herself stepping onto a beach.

"Oh my! You've got to be kidding me!" she murmured to herself. She gave a joyous yell before kicking of her shoes and running towards the water! "I'm back! Oh sweet Aslan!" she cried out happily.

After playing in the water for a while, she glanced up and was surprised to see ruins sitting on top of the hill. "That's funny," she said out loud, "I don't remember any ruins in Narnia." Shrugging, she made her way towards the ruins.

-::-

After splashing in the water and laughing joyously at their return to Narnia, Edmund paused for a moment and looked at the scenery around them. It was so wonderful to be in Narnia again, and not in the drab train station wearing their prim and proper uniforms. His eyes rose up and looked at the mountains. He squinted in the sun to make sure that what he was looking at was actually there and not some mirage.

"Where do you suppose we are?" he asked

Peter stopped splashing his sisters and looked at Edmund. "Well where do you think?" Peter said, in a tone that suggested that the answer was quite obvious.

"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia." Edmund said pointedly, glancing up at the ruins on top of the hill.

Peter glanced up as well, seeing the ruined castle remnants for the first time. The rest of the Pevensie children looked up as well, frowning against the glare of the sun, and at the ruins.

-::-

Lucy grabbed an apple that was hanging low on the tree and bit into it. She stared thoughtfully at the ocean and admired the view.

"Wonder who lived here?" she inquired softly.

Susan stepped into the clearing, and paused when her toe hit something on the ground. "I think we did." Susan said surprised, as she observed the golden chess piece she had accidentally walked on.

"Hey! That's mine!" Edmund said, coming out from behind a broken pillar. "From my chess set!" He held his hand out and Susan placed the golden horse into his palm.

"Which chess set?" Peter asked. He walked towards his sibling with a questioning look on his face. He too peered questioningly at the gold chess piece in Edmund's hand.

"Well, I didn't exactly have a solid gold chess set in Finchley did I?" Edmund said sarcastically. He closed his hand around the chess piece and stuffed it into his pocket.

-::-

Edmund stared around half in horror at the ruined state that Cair Paravel was in, after Lucy's brilliant observation, the Pevensie's had decided to look around for any clues as to what exactly happened when they left. Edmund turned his head and frowned slightly at a rather large boulder sitting on the ground. Unless the gardener of Cair Parvel had done some serious redecorating, he doubted that the boulder had originally there before. Realization dawned on him as he realized why the boulder was there.

"Catapults!" Edmund said, surprised that he didn't think of it before..

Peter, who had been walking by the area stopped when he heard what his brother had said. "What?" he asked curiously.

"Well, this didn't just happen you know." Edmund stated, "Cair Paravel was attacked!" he said, continuing his thought.

Realization dawned on Peter's face and he started towards the castle wall, the only one that wasn't ruined. He pushed the wall aside, revealing a wide open tunnel. The wooden door that was suppose to be in the entrance of the tunnel looked as if it had been roughly pushed aside.

"Hmm." Peter murmured quietly, more to himself than the others.

"I don't suppose," Peter started, "You have any matches do you?" he asked Edmund, tearing the bottom of his dress shirt to make a makeshift torch.

"No but," Edmund said, as he opened his messenger bag, "would this help?" he asked, holding up a silver flashlight.

"You might've mentioned that a bit sooner!" Peter said laughing, he gestured towards the black tunnel and his sibling proceeded to walk through it.

When they arrived at the bottom, Susan, Lucy and Edmund walked quickly to their own chests, opening them and sifting through their stuff.

Peter, however, stood back for a moment and looked down at the shield beside him with a lion's face engraved on it. He took a deep breath and blew the dust off the shield before putting it down and walking towards his own chest. He took out his sword and read the engraving on it, "When Aslan bears his teeth, winter meets its death." He said solemnly.

"When he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again." Lucy said, finishing his sentence, equally as solemn. "Every one we knew, Mr. Tumnus and the beavers, they're all gone!" she finished quietly.

"I think it's time that we found out what's going on." Peter said firmly. His siblings nodded in agreement.

They glanced at the fifth chest, Lily's chest, and noticed that it was open. They looked at each other, hope filling their hearts.

Edmund quickly said, "I'm sure that she forgot to close it the day we went back. We were in a rush when Tumnus said that the White Stag had been spotted.

The siblings each nodded and slowly walked out of the room, each feeling a little bit less joyous than before.

-::-

After an hour of walking, Lily's legs were getting tired; she adjusted her tunic, made specifically for her, and sat down on the ground, stretching her legs out before her. She didn't notice a mouse staring at her until he poked her leg with his little sword.

"OW!" she cried out, grasping her leg, looking around for the source of her pain.

"Down here." The mouse cried out. He leapt onto her knee and pointed the tip of his blade towards her face, "Who are you?" he demanded.

Lily held her hands up to her face, "Lily Walker, former Guardian of the Kings and Queens of the Old." She said weakly.

The mouse lowered his sword and stared at her quizzically. "Prove yourself." He challenged.

Lily frowned and asked, "What do you want me to do?"

The mouse shrugged and said, "Prove that you're the Former Guardian of the Kings and Queens of the Old." His face lit up as he said, "OH! Why don't you show me your sword!"

"My what?" she asked curiously, not sure if she heard him right.

"Your SWORD." The mouse said slowly, as if talking to a child.

"Oh," Lily said frowning. "I dunno what's so special about it. 'Cept the engraving I guess… but that doesn't really prove much." She unsheathed her sword and placed it on the ground, the engraving right side up.

"Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, at the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more." The mouse read in his calm, noble voice. When the mouse looked up, he had a smile on his face. "You ARE the Former Guardian." He said in an awed voice. He bowed deeply and said, "We have anxiously awaited your return my liege."

Lily grinned and restrained herself from hugging him. "Is that right? Who's "we"?" she asked.

"Why, the rest of your army of course!" he said, surprised that she didn't know about her own army.

"An Army? May I know who we're trying to defeat this time?" she questioned.

"If you will, your majesty, let me bring you to Prince Caspian, he'll explain everything." The mouse said.

"Prince Caspian? Well alright." She said relenting.

"Splendid! Oh, by the way your majesty, my name is Sir Reepicheep." He said bowing.

"Sir Reepicheep, how… fitting." She said smiling before following the mouse into the forest.

-::-

"I don't remember this way." Susan said tiredly. They had been walking for a long time and her feet were beginning to ache.

"That's the problem with girls, "Peter replied, " Can't carry a map in your heads." He walked past her and looked around him.

"Well that's cause OUR heads have something in them." Lucy replied back smartly. She grinned at Susan beside her.

"I wish he would just listen to the DLF in the first place." Susan whispered quietly to Lucy.

"DLF?" Edmund asked curiously. He stood up on a rock and glanced around before looking at his sisters.

"Dear Little Friend." Lucy said smiling. Susan grinned and glanced back at Edmund.

"Oh, that's not at all patronizing is it?" Trumpkin said sarcastically.

"I'm not lost." Peter said softly, staring up at the mounds of rock around him.

"No," Trumpkin interjected, "You're just going the wrong way." He stepped over the rock in front of him and stood behind Peter.

"You last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Woods, and the quickest way there is to cross at the River Rush." Peter said shortly, turning to face him.

"Well unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing in these parts." Trumpkin stated simply.

"That explains it then, you're mistaken." Peter snapped. He turned huffily on his heel and walked forward.

-::-

"So you see it's sort of complicated between us. I think the only reason why I'm still alive is because he didn't have an heir. Now that he does, he doesn't need me anymore." Caspian said quietly, his face downcast.

"Well, if I know one thing for sure, it's that when Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy get here, they'll help you no matter what." Lily said, trying to reassure the sad looking Prince.

Prince Caspian smiled up at her before getting up and dusting himself off, "C'mon, let me show you around our uh… fortress."

Grinning, Lily followed him into the tunnel and was greeted by the fauns and dwarves who were welding their swords and armour. She followed him room after room, learning her way around the fortress and greeting the soldiers of her army.

When they had finished walking around the fortress, she turned to Caspian and said, "Do you have anything planned? Do you have any guards, foot soldiers, defense people… anything?"

"Well," he said sheepishly, "I've never really led an army before, so I didn't plan ahead."

She grinned, "Then it's a good thing that you have me." She said winking. "C'mon, let's go to the maps. You're going to need people to guard this fortress."

When Lily came out of the planning room, she told Caspian that she would be taking a walk outside, "Clears the head you know." She said cheerily, before walking out.

She walked up onto one of the ledges of the How and sat down. She began to muse over her thoughts and memories. It was great to be back in Narnia, but at the same time, it was rather depressing to see it in this state. The trees had retreated so far into themselves, that they no longer knew how to wake themselves up. Cair Paravel was in ruins, destroyed in all its glory, not to mention that all of the Narnians had been forced into hiding. She felt like sobbing. She remembered in the Golden Age, when the trees would dance with her and Lucy whenever they got the chance to get away from all the politics and balls that came along with being a Queen and the Protector of said Queen. Peter and Edmund use to ride their horses in the grassy fields, sparring with each other on their horses, the fauns and the other talking animals would watch from the sidelines, cheering on both of the kings as they provided a lovely show for them. Susan would walk around in the wood, practicing her archery or looking for new fashion ideas (she was the fashionista of Narnia.). _Oh, we would have such a jolly good time._ She thought to herself.

She blinked away the tears that had threatened to spill over and decided that it was time for her to go back inside the fortress. When she arrived, she was surprised to find the guards in chaos. They were frantically running around trying to gather enough weapons, supplies and armour for who knows what reason. She hurriedly tried to find Prince Caspian, whom she was told was in one of the many tunnels in the How.

"OH FOR ASLAN'S SAKE!" she yelled, annoyed that one guy could be so impossible to find. It had been 10 minutes already, and she still hadn't located the Telmarine Prince. "Caspian!" she called out frantically into a tunnel. She paused before walking towards another tunnel. "CASPIAN!" she yelled louder. She nearly jumped a foot in the air when she heard a voice call back, "Right here!"

"Where WERE you?" she snapped angrily, walking towards him, grabbing a torch off of the walls.

"Looking at these drawings." He said simply, he was surprised that she was so furious.

Lily glanced at the drawings, not really seeing them, before turning to Caspian. It was then, that the poor boy realized just how angry she was.

"What's going ON?" she said loudly, "I arrive back at the How, only to find it in chaos! The guards are running around, collecting shields, swords, armour and I have no idea why!"

"Oh," he said, "I ordered them to guard the area around the How."

"Well, you don't need so MANY!" she said in dismay.

"Well I didn't know that!" Caspian said in an equally loud voice, starting to feel a little irked that she was yelling at him.

"Why don't you order half of them to go instead?" she suggested, trying to ease his anger and hers.

"Alright." He answered.

-::-

"I wish you would stop acting like grown ups." Lucy snapped. They were surrounding the place where Lucy had first claimed to have seen Aslan.

The other Pevensie's, including Trumpkin, looked at each other, trying to decide what to do next.

As Lucy walked around near the edge of the cliff, Trumpkin spoke up, "I AM an adult."

Edmund tried to hide the grin that was threatening to split across his face.

"Well," Lucy said, stepping forward, "It was right- HERE!" she cried out, as the ground beneath her collapsed.

"LUCY!" Peter and Susan cried out, they all ran forward and felt the rapid thumping of their hearts return to normal when they saw their little sister sitting soundly on a ledge.

-::-

"Don't forget to look twice at everything, "Lily advised the guards. She adjusted her own sword and protective armour as she prepared herself to accompany the guards outside. She was personally in charge of guarding the How and the area around it.

"Alright, let's go." she said, she walked out and was soon followed by the rest of the guards. She pointed out to each guard where they were to patrol before heading off to her own area.

"Well," she murmured quietly to herself as she patrolled, "This can get awfully boring fast."

After an hour of patrolling, she was surprised to hear sounds of sword against sword coming from her far left. She ran towards the sound, unsheathing her sword while she ran.

"Stop!" she called out at the same time another voice, feminine as well, cried out, "No, stop!"

She was suddenly aware that the rest of the guards had gathered around as well. Her mouth fell open when she realized that it was Peter and Caspian who had been fighting.

Peter glanced at Lucy briefly, (the other feminine voice who had called out "No, stop!") before turning his attention back to Caspian, "Prince… Caspian?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, and who are you?" Caspian asked suspiciously, tilting his chin towards Peter at the word "you".

"PETER!" Susan's sharp voice rang out as she came into view. Edmund, Lucy and a dwarf that I didn't know followed suit.

Caspian, obviously startled, glanced down at the sword he was holding. Realization dawned on him as he realized who he had just fought with. "High King Peter?" he asked in a disbelieving voice.

"Yes, I believe you called." Peter said, in his trying to be high and mighty voice.

"Well yes, but I expected you to be older." Caspian replied, trying to stop himself from stuttering. Lily smiled at his nervousness at meeting the High King.

"Well if you'd like, we can come back in a few years." Peter replied, obviously annoyed. Back in Finchley, Peter HATED being called young; I guess being reverted from your mid-twenties to being a teenager did things to you. I rolled my eyes and decided that now was the time to bring myself into view.

"We've been preparing an army for you Pete." I said grinning.

His head, along with the other Pevensie's, whipped around at the sound of my voice, "Lily!" they all cried out in surprise. Lucy ran towards me and engulfed me into a hug; she was soon joined by her brothers and sister as they pulled me into a warm, love- filled hug.

"When'd you get here?" Edmund asked curiously.

"Well, I got here right after Peter's fight actually." I laughed when I saw the expression on his face. He was hoping that Susan might've forgotten his fight when they arrived in Narnia.

"Oh right, that fight. I forgot that YOU were in that too." Susan said sharply, glaring at me.

I glanced at Peter who was looking nervously at me too. I felt my lips start to twitch as I tried to hide the smile ready to break across my face. It was just too funny, who would've thought that Peter, the High King of Narnia, would be scared of Susan, the 'Gentle' Queen.

Finally, I couldn't help it, I started laughing. Soon enough Peter joined in, who was followed by Edmund, then Lucy and finally Susan.

"Alright you four, c'mon, let's bring you to the How. I'm sure you'll be impressed by all of the things that Caspian's accomplished." I said smiling at them.

Caspian blushed when he heard my compliment, and although he tried to cover it up I'm sure everybody else who was there saw it as well. I even heard a few rumbles of laughter.

And so we progressed, our little procession, towards the How.

**A/N: So…? Do you like it? I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. Constructive Criticism would be nice… and helpful. REVIEW **


	2. Plans Made and Heated Words Exchanged

**DISCLAIMER: **** I do not own any part of the wonderful world of Narnia. It strictly belongs to C.S. Lewis. All of the characters (except for Lily) belong to him.**

"I'm so excited that you came back too! When we were trying to find Caspian, I was so worried that you had been left behind on the train station, and that I would never see you again. I started to fret at night and I kept nagging Susan that maybe, just maybe you had ended up in Narnia-" Lucy began rambling.

Lily smiled to herself and found herself feeling a little astonished by the fact that anyone would miss her at all! She didn't usually think that others would care for her and think of her on a daily bases. Much less miss her! Her only closest friend in that dreadful all girls school was a year younger than her. Lucy was one of them; in fact, Lucy was probably her only closest friend. She was friends with Majorie but she only tolerated her because she was Lucy's friend. She thought that Majorie had absolutely no backbone and was sort of pathetic since she never stood up for herself in front of the popular girls at their school. Outside of school, she and Edmund were the best of friends. When they were younger, they use to build forts out of blankets, sheets and pillows; they would call it the Fort of Awesome. As they got older, they would go out and explore the garden behind the Pevensie's house, sometimes, they would secretly climb over the fence and walk around the little pond that was in the wood behind the house.

Her home life wasn't exactly easy though; her mum, Judith Walker, had died giving birth to her. In doing so, she left Lily's older brother, Andrew Walker, and her with their unreliable dad, Howard Walker. Not to mention that her dad had enlisted himself to join the army, which meant that she had her brother usually had to live alone for long periods of time. Some kids might've thought that having the house all to yourself (with the exception of your big brother) would be the opportunity of a lifetime. But it wasn't. She and her brother usually struggled to make ends meet. They both had part- time jobs (she as an apprentice for a VERY demanding journalist star aspirant and he as a mechanic at a repair center for wagons, carts and carriages.) that paid very little and were very demanding and time consuming. They usually alternated their job days so that the other person could take a break, do their homework and clean up the house on their off day.

Lily had come to know the Pevensie's through her brother. Peter and Andrew were best mates; they could talk to each other about anything. There were several occasions (before Lily met Lucy or Edmund) that Lily would see Peter come over to the Walker's house and help take care of Lily and the house. To her, Peter became her second big brother. When Andrew was too busy at work, Peter would come over and tuck Lily into bed and read her bed time stories. She enjoyed them, but she would miss her big brother desperately at those times. No one could imitate the voice of Pooh Bear quite like Andrew could.

"-and then Peter got mad at Susan and told her to 'Shut up.'!" Lucy finished, with her eyes wide open and slightly breathless from her long ramble.

Lily grinned and said, "Really! Well, then again, it's no surprise that he lost his temper with her though. He hasn't exactly had an ample supply of patience ever since he came back from Narnia. The first time I mean."

Lucy nodded sadly as she remembered all the fights and arguments that Peter would get into with Edmund, Susan and the boys that were mean to him at school.

"Alright, well, you should join the others. I need to return back to my duties." Lily said.

Lucy nodded and moved forward to hug her, "Be careful okay?" she murmured quietly against the shoulder of Lily's armour.

"Always am." Lily said, grinning.

Lucy pulled away and started towards the How. From a distance Lily watched as Lucy joined her older siblings, and together, the Kings and Queens of the old walked towards the entrance of the How in a comically straight line.

Lily turned around; away from the How as she peered into the forest, she straightened her shoulders and walked deeper into the wood, carefully looking around her.

-::-

Edmund's first thought when he entered the How was _By Jove, it's quite warm in here isn't it? _He tugged at his sleeve for a moment, trying to loosen it so he could roll it up his arm. He had gotten his left sleeve up and was about to finish rolling up his right sleeve when a skinny hand, accompanied by slender fingers pushed his sleeve back down while tugging at his wrist.

"Ed! C'mon! Peter's holding a meeting!" Lucy said urgently, tugging on his sleeve and his hand.

"Let go Lu! I'm coming!" Edmund said, slightly annoyed that during the meeting, he would have to re-roll his right sleeve.

A faun passing by chuckled at the two monarchs' little exchange before heading back to his welding station. Edmund glared at the back of Lucy's head as she pulled him into the meeting room. Peter was standing in front of a map with Caspian right beside him; they both wore annoyed frowns.

"Pete." Edmund said, announcing his arrival.

Peter and Caspian glanced up at the same time; they both wore bleary expressions on their faces. Edmund smiled at their facial expressions and turned around to greet Susan who had just entered the room.

"Where's Lily?" Susan queried, it was like a second instinct for her to mother the young girl who was the same age as Edmund.

"I don't know…" Peter said, the frown returning back to his face, "Ed, have you seen her?" he asked, turning towards his little brother.

"No, I haven't seen her." Edmund said shortly. He tried to hide the look of disappointment from his face when he said this. He hadn't been able to talk to her as much ever since they came back from Narnia the first time. She had always been so caught up in her job and her school work that she barely had enough time to join him on their regular hang outs near the old run down movie theatre.

"She's on guard duty." Caspian piped up.

"Oh," Peter said absentmindedly, "C'mon, let's finish this." He gestured towards the map, claiming everyone else's attention back to the map except Edmund.

-::-

"Oh gosh, why must there be so many THISTLES in Narnia." Lily sighed and yanked the edge of her tunic loose from one of the branches.

She swung her sword around lazily, forgetting her earlier warning to the rest of the guards to remain diligent. There was a thick mist hanging around the forest, hiding everything that wasn't within 2 feet of her. Because of this, when Lily first heard a rustling to her right, she had assumed it was a squirrel, it wasn't until an arrow nearly took off a chunk of her nose that she realized that the cause of the rustling was most definitely NOT a squirrel.

Her head whipped around, as she gracefully unsheathed her sword from its case on her right hip. She had barely managed to focus her eyes on the Telmarine soldier before he shot another arrow at her. Unlike last time, this one hit its target; her arm.

She resisted the urge to drop her sword and in desperation, she swung her sword at the Telmarine soldier. Obviously, he managed to dodge her sword, but his horse wasn't so lucky. His horse reared up, sending its rider onto the forest floor. Lily managed to dodge its front legs and stepped to the side as the horse galloped away. She turned her attention to the Telmarine soldier and swung her sword in a circle. She acted like she was about to stab him but right when her sword was coming down, she brought the rock that she had hid behind her back and flung it at his head.

"I hate this part." Lily muttered to herself, as she dragged the heavy soldier back to the How. A Minotaur, upon seeing the thin girl attempt to drag the heavy soldier into the How, dropped what he was holding and picked up the soldier and carried him back into the How for her.

"Thanks." Lily said gratefully. She might've been the Protector in the Golden Age, but she had certainly lost some muscle when she went back to England.

"Wait," she called out to the Minotaur, "Where are the Kings and Queens?"

"Uh, meeting..." the Minotaur said gruffly, before bending down and picking up the discarded weapons.

Lily nodded once, logging this tidbit of information into her mind before tying up the Telmarine soldier. She called over a faun and asked him to guard the soldier so that when he woke up, he wouldn't be able to escape. After she had finished up that task, she headed off in the general direction of the meeting room. It wasn't long before she heard loud yelling and shouts coming from the hallway that would lead her to the room. It was common knowledge – at least to anyone who has every planned a war with Peter before- that Peter got quite... _agitated _when he was discussing Warfare tactics.

When she entered the room, she heard Peter shout "-no idea what you're talking about!" she glanced around, trying to make sense of the scene before her. Peter, the ever determined one, was waving his arms around trying to prove a point to Caspian. The latter, had his arms crossed and was giving Peter a mutinous look. Susan was pacing around the room with her arms crossed and her brow furrowed. Edmund was standing a little off to the side, occasionally glancing over at Peter and Caspian to make sure that everything was going... smoothly. Lucy was sitting cross-legged on the stone table, trying to interject at random intervals.

Lily could have laughed had it not been for the pain in her arm at the moment. She hadn't realized how much her injury hurt until now; she realized that she desperately needed to get it cleaned up soon.

"Of course I do! What you're suggesting is crazy! No one has every attacked the castle!" Caspian cried out.

"There's always a first." Peter insisted. As if to further push his suggestion, he continued on saying, "Miraz's men and war machine's are on their way. That means those same men aren't protecting his castle. Our only hope is to strike them before they strike us."

"Offense is the best defence." Lily said nodding, striding into the room.

Again, all of the heads in the room whipped over to look at Lily.

"When'd you get back?" Peter asked, momentarily distracted from his argument with Caspian.

"Uh, well, after I obtained this injury-" she replied, showing him her injured arm "- and knocked out a Telmarine soldier."

Peter's eyebrows rose at the last bit. "Are you alright? We should get your arm bandaged up. Unfortunately, we don't have an infirmary ready yet."

"That's alright. I'll bandage it up myself. I just wanted to check in on you guys." She said, reassuring him.

Peter nodded and looked at the Centaur General standing near by. "If we get your troops in, can you handle the guards?" he asked, as if the matter of attacking the castle had already been agreed on by all the members in the room.

The centaur paused for a moment and glanced at Caspian briefly before returning his gaze back to Peter, "Or die trying my liege." He said in his deep, solemn voice.

"That's what I'm worried about." Lucy said softly. Lily looked at her worriedly; she could see the rare signs of anger showing on her face.

"Sorry?" Peter asked.

"Well, you're all acting like there are only two options. Dying here, or dying there." Lucy said, in a dangerously low voice.

"Well you really should have been listening Lu-"Peter began.

"No, YOU'RE not listening. Or have you forgotten who REALLY killed the White Witch?" Lucy said loudly.

Peter straightened himself up, "I think we've waited for Aslan long enough." He said haughtily, striding out of the room with his nose high.

There was some awkward silence in the room when Peter left, Lily could see that some of the Narnians were feeling sort of nervous since they expected the Kings and Queens of the old to swoop in and solve the war just by being there. Some looked down right hopeless once they saw that the Kings and Queens weren't exactly united at that moment. Lily sighed, she knew that she couldn't solve the problems of the war at the moment, so she decided to fix the one problem she could solve, Lucy. Lily strode over to her and helped Lucy off of the stone table using her good arm. "C'mon. Want to help me clean up my wound?" she asked, trying to find a way to distract Lucy from her uncooperative brother.

Lucy nodded quietly and followed her out of the room. It was so unnerving seeing Lucy like this. Usually, she's so full of life, ready to jump up and help anybody close to her.

"There are some bandages." Lucy said, pointing at a roll of bandages on top of a chest.

Lily nodded and made her way towards the chest, she was beginning to feel a little faint from the loss of blood and from her deprivation from food and sleep. She sat down on the dirty floor of the room and held her arm out so Lucy could clean it and bandage it up. She winced a couple times and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep herself from crying out in pain when Lucy had first applied some of the bandages on her wound.

Fifteen minutes later, Lily's arm was all bandaged up and ready to go. After Lucy had finished bandaging Lily's arm, they had both made their way to the armoury. Lucy wasn't going to be participating in the raid, but Lily needed to get her armour and swords ready for the raid.

-::-

Lily squinted around her as she walked around the highest watchtower on the castle, beside her, Edmund was turning his electric torch on and off, signalling to Peter, Susan and Caspian the watchtower was clear. Pretty soon, she saw three black figures swooping in from behind and fly towards the center of the courtyard.

Her task in this raid was simple, she was to make sure that Edmund got to the watchtower safely and, as soon as the three Monarchs (Peter, Susan and Caspian) made it to the Professor's study, she was to head in that direction and help them to open the gate.

As soon as she saw the three figures land inside of the courtyard and take out the soldiers that were on guard, she nodded briefly to Edmund before opening the door that lead inside the watchtower and ran down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she poked her head out and looked left to right, looking for any guards. When she saw that the hallway was clear, she quickly (but quietly of course) made her way towards the Professor's study. As she walked, she adjusted the brace that a faun had put on her wrist so that she wouldn't injured it further. She made it there in time to see Susan and Peter come out wearing angry looks on their faces.

"What happened?" she whispered quietly.

They turned to look at her.

"Caspian went to find the Professor; it's up to us to get to Miraz and open the gate now." Peter said angrily.

"Peter." Susan chastised.

Peter shook his head but led the girls down the hall. They were about to open the door that lead to Miraz's room when they heard Queen Prunaprismia say, "I don't want to do this Caspian."

Susan, Peter and Lily all exchanged looks, although Peter looked more annoyed than worried. They gave each other a brief nod before Susan and Peter entered the room with Susan saying "We don't want you to either."

Lily, on the other hand, continued down the hall and killed the two guards that were standing near the staircase at the bottom. She ran towards the door that would open up to the courtyard but was stopped short when she heard an agonized scream coming from the floor above her.

Lily swore under her breath and kicked the door open, running towards the two guards that stood in a line in front of her, trying to stop her from reaching the gate. She drew her sword out and stabbed one of them in the stomach and then turned to slice the other's neck.

"Edmund!" she screamed. She glanced up and saw him engaged in a sword fight with a guard.

She wanted to yell in frustration but was occupied with trying to kill another guard who stepped out from the shadows.

As she tried to kill the guard, she heard Peter running up behind and yelling "NOW ED NOW! SIGNAL THE TROOPS!"

Edmund, still trying to get his torch back from the guard yelled out in frustration, "I'm a BIT busy Pete!"

Lily managed to knock the guard out by hitting him in the head with the back of her sword. She glanced behind her and saw Peter running towards the gate, followed by Susan and Caspian. Worried that the troops might not have enough time to come through the gates, she glanced up at Edmund, trying to see if he was done fighting with the guard. She saw him manage to grasp the torch back and hit the guard on the head with the back of it. She smiled slightly in approval and decided to deal with the oncoming wave of castle guards.

She grinned to herself as she anticipated the action that was about to follow. _True, _she thought _Battles and Wars are ugly, but the action, skill and training that goes on in between the wars are really quite beautiful. _Realizing that one of the guards were coming closer and closer, she raised her sword and swung at the nearest guard. He took a nasty swipe on his arm but still managed to hit her in the stomach with the back of his sword. She let out a grunt but persisted and managed to bring her sword down on his head.

She turned around to see how Peter, Susan and Caspian were doing but only managed to see that they too were engaged in fighting with the other guards before taking a nasty blow from one of the guards. She glared at him from behind her fringe before kicking him square in the stomach with her foot. She turned to the side, spotting a soldier coming towards her from her Peripheral vision, and raised her sword above her head, only to bring it down to hit the soldier with a grunt.

She glanced up and saw that Edmund was sliding down a roof to prevent one of the archers that were lined up along the room of a building surrounding the courtyard from hitting her with an arrow. In doing so, he made himself an open target for the rest of the archers on the roof.

"Edmund!" she shouted as the rest of the archers turned to face the Just King. Edmund, realizing the danger he was in, ran towards the door that lead inside the castle and slammed it shut. Relieved that he was safe, Lily began dealing with the soldiers who were running towards her, swords raised.

-::-

After taking several hits and blows to the face, Lily heard Peter shout, "Back to gate! Retreat! Back to the gate!"

She glanced around for him, and saw him trying to direct the Narnians towards the gate.

"Get out of here!" he shouted at a faun.

She turned around and killed a Telmarine soldier who had tried to sneak up behind her. She began to try to injure or kill as many Telmarine soldiers as she could, she knew that she would need to leave soon, but she wanted to make sure that this raid had not been in vain.

She saw a griffin land beside her and she got on quickly so that they wouldn't be shot down by an archer. As they circled back around the courtyard, she saw that Edmund had also gotten a ride from a griffin, she nodded at him as they passed and looked down at the courtyard as they passed over head, the scene that greeted her made her want to vomit. A pile of Narnian soldiers were lying in the center of the courtyard, she saw a Minotaur, lying dead underneath the gate. How had this happened? Why were half of their army dying in the centaur of Miraz's courtyard? She felt tears grace her cheeks as she flew over head. She shared a sad look with Edmund, before burying her face into the feathery neck of the griffin she was riding on. _Oh Aslan. _She thought sadly.

**A/N: REVIEW! Please :D Let me know if you like it so far and feel free to throw in your ideas, just a random holler will do.**


	3. War Preperations

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any part of the wonderful world of Narnia. It strictly belongs to C.S. Lewis. All of the characters (except for Lily) belong to him.**

**A/N: I don't have any legit reason for why I didn't post for a long time, but since it's nearing the end of my school year, I can start posting more frequently. I sincerely apologize for not posting for..3 months? I hope you won't start pelting tomatoes at me… :D**

As Lily tumbled off of the griffin she had been riding, she heard Peter and Caspian shouting at one another. She quickly made her way to where Susan was and tried to see what was happening. When she was beside Susan, she saw that Peter and Caspian were arguing and shouting accusations at one another.

"I am NOT the one who abandoned Narnia." Caspian shouted angrily. _Ouch._ Lily thought _Way to hit him where it hurts._

As Caspian pushed past him, Peter spoke up, "No, you invaded Narnia. You have no more right leading than Miraz does. You, him, your father! Narnia's better off without the lot of you!" Peter retorted, just as angrily.

Caspian turned around, glaring furiously at Peter. Simultaneously, both of the boys drew their swords out. Right at that moment though, Edmund shouted "Stop it!" the two boys paused, the tips of their swords right up against the others neck. Lucy, who had been standing at the entrance of the How, ran forward with a worried expression on her face. As she ran, she unclasped her cordial from its place on her belt and uncorked it so she could give the dying Trumpkin a drop.

The whole procession held its breath as Lucy dripped some of the cordial into Trumpkin's wide open mouth. Caspian put his sword back into its sheath and walked into the How, he was soon followed by Nikabrik. Worried, Lily decided to follow the two into the How, she followed them down the hallway that lead into the How and into the hallway of where the paintings that he had been looking at the day before were.

I got there in the nick of time to hear Nikabrik say to Caspian, "The Kings and Queens have failed us. You're army's half dead, those who aren't will be soon enough."

Lily held her breath and she tiptoed around the corner, close enough to see and hear what was going on, but not close enough to be seen.

"What do you want?" Caspian asked as he slowly turned to face Nikabrik. "Congratulations?"

Nikabrik edged closer to Caspian and said "You want your uncle's blood? So do we. You want his throne? We can get it for you."

For a brief moment the two of them stood there; Caspian with a slightly confused look on his face and Nikabrik with a challenging one. Nikabrik walked briskly into the How, and after a brief moment, Caspian followed as well.

Lily swore under her breath as she realized what was going on. _That damn dwarf_ She thought as she tip-toed behind them.

Nikabrik led Caspian right in front of Aslan's stone table. "You tried one ancient power. It failed." He said, "There is one greater power still; one that kept even Aslan at bay for nearly a hundred years." He finished his sentence and gave Caspian a wickedly promising smile as he backed away.

Lily frowned as she walked closer to where they were standing. She flattened herself against one of the big columns that surrounded the stone table, wincing as her injured arm hit the column a bit too hard. All thoughts of her injured arm went out the window as she heard a deep, hoarse voice say, "I am hunger. I am thirst." A cloaked figure walked forward, growling s it came. "I can fast for a hundred years and not die. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze." The voice growled for a moment and continued on. Lily peeked at the figure and realized that he had a snout and paws. _What IS this thing? _She thought curiously. The animal stepped into the light and said, "I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show. Me. Your. ENEMIES!" The figure threw his hood off and revealed his face. Lily nearly screamed when she saw the hideous and gruesome face of a werewolf. She pressed herself against the column and took deep, silent breaths as she tried to control her racing heart. She didn't realize that Caspian was speaking until she heard the slide of the sword going back into his sheath as he said, "And you can guarantee Miraz's death?"

She heard a hoarse feminine voice say, "And more…."

_NOO! _She thought, as she slowly stood up for her hiding place. She had to end this. These foul creatures were about to awaken a deep magic. Magic that had been dead for nearly 1300 years.

The old hag began to chant in an eerie rhythm, drawing a circle on the ground as she chanted. Near the end of the chant, she began to lift up the wand that she had been holding, in one swift motion; she stabbed it into the ground. Instantaneously, an ice wall began forming in between the two columns that were in front of the carving of Aslan. Lily gaped in horror as the figure of the White Witch appeared in the ice wall. She took her dagger out and walked slowly towards the center of the ice wall, praying that she wouldn't be seen through the ice.

"Wait!" Caspian said anxiously, "This isn't what I wanted!" Lily paused and squinted as she tried to see through the ice. She saw Caspian try to back out of the circle but it was too late. The werewolf had a steadfast grip on him and would not let him move.

"One drop of Adam's blood and you free me. And then, I am yours." the seductive voice of the White Witch made Lily's blood run cold.

"NO!" Caspian yelled. The hag slashed her dagger across Caspian's hand and grinned evilly.

The White Witch's hand penetrated through the wall and reached out towards Caspian. Caspian stared in awe at the White Witch and slowly walked towards the center of the circle, his hand outstretched.

Lily began running out from behind the ice wall and leapt towards the werewolf. She began to engage in a deadly fight with the werewolf. The werewolf tore at her armour with his claws and threw her around, slamming her against the steps of the stone table. She got up shakily each time and tried to overpower the werewolf again. She slashed at him with her dagger, but because of all the hits that she had received, she wasn't thinking as strategically as she should have and ended up throwing herself off balance. The werewolf grabbed her wrist and flung her against one of the columns. Lily felt her mind slowly go blank and she blinked slowly at the figure walking towards her. She suddenly forgot what was happening, all that she knew, was that her head was slowly going numb and she was slowly loosing consciousness.

She heard a voice yell "STOP!" and footsteps entering the room. She felt someone gently pick her up and prop her up gently on the wall. She sensed a wet drop land on her lip and slide into her mouth. She slowly blinked her eyes open and realized that Lucy was standing over her and gently sliding her cordial back into its pouch on her belt. Lily pressed her lips together and slowly got up. She gently felt the back of her head and winced as it touched a rather tender spot. She pulled her hand away from her head and cringed at the blood that covered her finger. She glanced at Lucy questioningly for moment until Lucy said, "Your head's healed... it's just a little tender. You're going to need to rest soon."

Lily gave her a thankful smile and turned her attention to what was happening. She had to blink for a moment before being able to fully process what was going on. Edmund was trying to kill the werewolf while Peter... Peter was standing in the circle with his blade pointed at the White Witch. Both Caspian and Peter were staring mesmerizingly at the White Witch, as she told them both again and again how much she could help them, if only they would give her a drop of blood.

The old hag, who had been left alone since no one thought that she was a threat, had begun to walk towards Edmund, with a dagger in her hand. He was momentarily distracted from the werewolf when he saw the hag walking towards him. Lily leapt towards the werewolf as he tried to stab Edmund and knocked him over. She felt the werewolf's foul breath wash over her as she tried to keep him on the ground. She groped around for a weapon but was knocked over and pushed aside. She tried to crawl away but was dragged back by the werewolf. She tried to elbow him in the face but he was too strong for her. After a couple seconds of struggling and growling, she felt the werewolf's grip slacken. She was able to roll out of his furry paws with ease. She rolled over and saw Edmund pulling his sword out from the werewolf's back. She sighed in relief and got up. She was about to thank Edmund for helping her out until she saw a look of fury marring his features.

"What were you thinking?" He whispered angrily.

Confused, Lily retorted with, "I was trying to save your sorry arse from being killed." She whispered back just as angrily.

"Well it didn't seem like it since YOU'RE the one with a bloody head and I'm the one with a bloody sword." Edmund said, clenching his teeth.

"What was I suppose to do? Stand there and watch you get killed by an old hag and a furry, walking and talking wolf? I'm your guardian remember? I'm supposed to PROTECT you." Lily snapped.

"So why don't you do YOUR job and I'll do mine?" Edmund snapped angrily.

Lily frowned at what he said and crossed her arms, she couldn't help it, she was mad. "That makes next to NO sense whatsoever. What are you even accusing me of anyways?" Lily said, cocking an eyebrow.

"I just... I don't want you to... can't you... why..." Edmund stammered, he flushed and quickly walked to where Caspian and Peter were.

Lily tiredly ran her hand across her face and put her sword back into its scabbard and turned towards the Ice Wall. The Witch kept beckoning at the two boys with her hand while both boys were staring stupidly at her.

"One drop and you free me. And then, Narnia will be yours." The White Witch said, smiling at them.

Peter looked down for a moment, at that very moment a slight crack in the Ice Wall could be heard. And then another crack, and then another. Caspian and Peter's heads snapped up, staring dumbly at the Ice Wall. The Witch gave a shriek and the Ice Wall came crashing down, revealing the carving of Aslan. Edmund stood there, with his sword above his head pointed towards where the Ice Wall was.

"I know," he said, looking at Peter, "You had it sorted."

Peter looked down and walked towards the Stone Table, gently running his fingers over it. Caspian sighed and shuffled his feet towards the entrance. He turned back once he reached the entrance and smiled gratefully at the remaining three people in the room. He then continued his way out of the room.

Edmund glanced at both Peter and Lily before anxiously running his hand through his hair and muttered, "Taking a walk. Clears the head." He walked briskly out of the room, leaving Peter and Lily behind.

Lily walked over to where Peter was standing and sat down on the stone steps of the stone table.

"Do you think that he'll come?" Peter asked quietly.

Lily smiled to herself. "I believe that he will. He always has. He'll come through in the end." Lily said softly.

"I've made so many mistakes." Peter whispered.

Lily stared at her the carving of Aslan for a while before speaking. "I've made mistakes too. Heck, I even encouraged you to make a mistake. I failed my duty as your guardian; I led you straight into a trap and didn't realize it until it was too late. I should have known better. It feels like ever since I've come back, I've been fighting a losing battle, trying to redeem myself to Narnia, trying to make the right decisions on my own. I realized too late that I needed to stop trying to be the perfect guardian and be what Narnia needs me to be." Lily turned to Peter and said, "I needed to be what Aslan needed me to be. I was fighting him the whole time, trying to win every fight." She smiled and said, "Even the petty little arguments."

Peter sighed and sat down beside her, "I suppose… that I should be what Narnia and Aslan need me to be." He turned and looked at her and said, "A wise leader. A good king."

Lily smiled and stood up, "I'm going to take a walk. Like Edmund says, it clears the head." She walked out of the room and out of the How. She had meant what she had said to Peter, the problem was, could she carry out her own advice?

-::-

"Damn bush. Why are there so many bushes in Narnia?" Edmund muttered angrily, as he kicked at yet another bush in his way.

"Probably because it's a wild country." said a deep baritone voice.

Edmund spun around quickly and glanced around at the shadows.

"Who there?" He called out nervously.

"My king, what are you doing wandering around alone?" a centaur emerged from the shadows and stared down the King.

"I needed to clear my head. There's so much going on, it helps to have a fresh mind instead of an overwhelmed one." Edmund said.

"True," the centaur said walking towards him, "But an individual as important as you should not be wandering in the woods alone."

Edmund sensed that the centaur would not leave until he asked the centaur to accompany him, "Would you like to walk with me?" he said reluctantly.

"Yes My King, I would." The centaur replied.

As the pair walked together quietly, Edmund let his thoughts take over him. He didn't know why he had gotten so angry at Lily in the How, but seeing her lying on the floor bloody and weak made him want regurgitate the little food that he had in his stomach. He was also uneasy when he saw how easy it was for the White Witch to come back, just some crazy werewolf and hag and a stupid human ready to spill his blood, and the White Witch would come back to rain terror on Narnia again. He was angry that he had let himself be so affected by the presence of the White Witch, and he was annoyed that Peter and Caspian were stupid enough to believe that THAT malicious, conniving devil of a witch that they had worked so hard to free Narnia of would help them solve a problem just because she told them so. Hadn't Peter learned anything from the last time they were in Narnia?

He kicked at a bush again before turning to the centaur, "Would it be okay with you if I just sat here for a moment?"

"Of course your majesty, I will be in the shadows, guarding you." The centaur strode away.

Edmund rested his head against the trunk of a tree and breathed in deeply. He shut his eyes and let himself be taken over by the blackness of sleep.

-::-

Lily had been walking around the forest when she heard the distant sound of water running. She picked up her pace and headed in the direction of the sound. When she was at the source of the sound, she was delighted to find that it was a waterfall. She quickly took off her cloak, boots, tunic and belt before diving into the water head first. She swam back up to the surface and took a deep gulp of fresh air before diving under again. She let the water swirl her hair around her face and let it wash away all the dirt and mud that she had stuck to her clothing and body. She went back up to the surface and swam lazily on her back. She continued swimming around the pool of water until she began to feel a little chill. She languidly swam towards the shore line and began her long trek up the hill until she reached the place where she had placed her tunic, belt, cloak and boots. She dipped her feet back into the water fall to clean off some of the mud that had gathered in between her toes and slipped her feet back into her boots. She quickly took off the wet shirt that she was wearing and slipped on her dry tunic. She put on her belt and secured her cloak around her. She tried to wring out as much water as she could from her shirt before scrunching it up into a ball in her hands. She let the air dry her shoulder length auburn hair as she walked. She cast her grey-green eyes towards the ground trying not to trip on anything as she walked.

When she made it back to the How, her hair was still a bit damp and her clothes were still wet. She was about to ask the nearest faun if they had any spare clothes that she could borrow but was dragged aside by Susan.

"Look at you! You're a mess! And you're freezing. You're going to catch a cold and we can't have you sneezing while slashing at Telmarine soldiers." Susan said quickly. She dragged Lily into a room that Lily recognized as Susan and Lucy's sleeping room. Susan went to a trunk in the corner of the room and took out a dark grey shirt and a dark blue tunic. Lily recognized it as one of the outfits that she had in her trunk back at Cair Paravel.

"How...?" Lily began.

"We wanted to take one just in case we DID meet up with you. We didn't want you to prance around in your school uniform." Susan said sheepishly.

Lily grinned and quickly put on the tunic and shirt. She had begun to take off her legging when she realized that Susan hadn't given her a fresh pair of leggings. She turned around and looked at Susan who was grinning at her and threw a pair of leggings at her. Lily smiled at her and put on the fresh pair of leggings before slipping her feet back into her foots and re-buckling her belt.

-::-

Peter stared at the carving of Aslan. He had been doing this same action for quite some time now, but showed no sign in getting up and walking out of the room. He heard soft footsteps approaching from behind but made no move to turn his head and see who it was. Only when the person came into the room and sat down beside him did he turned his head. He smiled at his littlest sister and put an arm around her, giving her a squeeze.

"Hey Lu." He said, resting his head on her head. He was surprised to see that he didn't need to bend his shoulders as much so he could rest his head on hers. _When did she start growing? _He thought amusingly.

Lucy simply took Peter's hand and squeezed it as a response. They both sat there in silence, going over their own thoughts and trying to think of a way to save Narnia.

"How can you know?" Peter asked her.

Lucy turned her head to face him, "What do you mean?"She asked.

Peter looked at her, "You've seen him." He said, "I wish he'd just give me some sort of proof."

"Maybe we're the ones that need to prove ourselves to him." Lucy answered, giving him a small smile. They both turned to look at the carving of Aslan, lost in their own deep thoughts. They were both broken out of their reverie by Edmund, who walked into the room with urgency in his step.

"Pete," he said worriedly, "You better come quickly."

The three monarchs all walked quickly out of the room.

-::-

A feeling of dread settled into Lily's heart as she watched Miraz's army approaching quickly. She gripped her sword tightly with her right hand and chewed on her lip nervously. She heard quick footsteps behind her and turned to see Peter, Edmund and Lucy running towards them. She watched as shock registered across their faces as they stared at the numerous soldiers that were marching towards them. She turned to face the army herself and let her eyes wash over the catapults that had a generous supply of boulders. The Narnians gathered below them, she heard them talk loudly amongst one another as they stared in disbelief at the fast approaching army.

"Oh Aslan." Lily murmured under her breath, "There is no trial that you have put me under that can compare to this."

She turned around, not willing to face the cause of the dread that now filled her heart; she walked quickly to the war room and looked at Trumpkin, who had his injured head resting in his hands. When he heard her walk in, he glanced up and muttered darkly, "We're doomed."

"No. We're not doomed. Not yet."

She spun around and saw Peter walk in with a determined look on his face.

"I have a plan." He stated.

The rest of the monarchs walked in the room. Susan had her arm around Lucy's shoulders, rubbing it from time to time.

"Well, the stage is yours, don't hold back." Lily reminded Peter.

"Right well," he paused for a moment and glanced at Lucy, "It involves you."

Lily frowned but held her silence. She felt Trumpkin grow uneasy beside her.

"Lucy," Peter started, turning to face his littlest sister, "We need you to go into the woods and find Aslan. I know that this might be dangerous, but we need him."

"WHAT?" Trumpkin exploded loudly, "Beds and Kettledrums!" Trumpkin started pacing the room. He paused and slammed his fist down on the table. "THAT'S your next big plan? Sending a little girl into the darkest parts of the forest alone?" at this point, he had moves so that he was right beside Lucy.

"It's our only chance." Peter stated firmly.

"And she won't be alone." Susan said, piping up.

Trumpkin turned so that he was standing in front of Lucy and stammered quietly, "Haven't enough of us died already?"

Trufflehunter, who had been quietly sitting beside Edmund, spoke up, "Nikabrik was my friend too, but he lost hope." Trufflehunter paused and rested a paw gently on Lucy's arm. "Queen Lucy hasn't, and neither of I." Trufflehunter said.

The distinct sound of a sword leaving its scabbard could be heard in the solemnly quiet room. "For Aslan."said Reepicheep.

The Bulgy Bear echoed him just as solemnly, "For Aslan." He placed his paw over his heart.

Everyone turned to look at Peter, who was staring at Lucy. Their gazes shifted off of the High King when Trumpkin said, "Then I'm going with you."

"No," Lucy said firmly, "They need you here." She kindly placed her hand on his cheek.

"No, wait, if anything, I should be the one accompanying you and Susan. It's my duty to protect you both." Lily said firmly.

"We have to hold them off until Lucy and Susan get back." Peter said. He frowned and continued on, "I'm not quite sure if you should or shouldn't go. You're right, you are supposed to protect them, but I may need you here."

The room was quiet until Caspian said, "If I may," he paused as if he was not sure if he should go on. He glanced at his professor who was seated beside him. The professor gave him a slight nod, gesturing that he should continue.

"Miraz may be a tyrant and murderer," Caspian started nervously, "But as king, he is subject to the traditions and expectations of his people. There is one in particular that may buy us some time."

Peter and Caspian stared at each other, and for the first time ever since they've met each other, there seemed to be a little camaraderie between them.

-::-

In the end, it was decided that Lily would stay at the How; she was to accompany Edmund as he went over to Miraz's side with a letter from Peter. They had decided that because Miraz didn't know who she was, it would be safe for her to accompany Edmund, that, and also because she adamantly refused to let Edmund go without her. Since the Narnians refused at point blank to have their High King duelling the evil tyrant that Caspian was forced to call his uncle, they decided that their guardian would do it. She agreed willingly to the proposition obviously, but inside, she was rather nervous. What happened to you if you died here?

She walked with Edmund to Miraz's camp; they were accompanied by a giant and a centaur. She could see that he was nervous, as they walked there, he refused to utter more than necessary when he talked to her. She didn't understand why this was so, but decided not push it.

When they made it to Miraz's camp, they headed for the place where Miraz was holding his council. They explained to him why they were here and Edmund proceeded to read from the letter.

"I, Lily, by the gift of Aslan, by election and by conquest, Guardian of Narnia, Keeper of Cair Paravel and Protector of the Lone Islands, in order to prevent the abominable infusion of blood, do hereby challenge the usurper Miraz, to single combat upon the field of battle. The fight shall be to the death. The reward shall be total surrender." Edmund read. When he finished, he rolled up the scroll and looked at Miraz.

"Tell me, Prince Edmund..." Miraz began.

"King." Edmund interjected suddenly.

For a moment, Miraz looked like he wanted to run his sword through Edmund, "Pardon me?" he said in a dangerously polite voice.

"It's KING Edmund actually. Just King though, Peter's the High King." He hesitated before adding, "I know, it's confusing."

At this point, Miraz looked like he wanted to do more than just run his sword through Edmund; he looked like he wanted to stab him multiple times after. He played with the hilt of the sword while looking off in the distance for a moment before turning back at Edmund.

"Why would we risk such a proposal when our armies could wipe you out by nightfall?" Miraz asked mockingly.

Luckily, Edmund was not one to simply give up and walk away, he decided to use what Caspian had told him and try to make Miraz think that in order to uphold his title as King, he would need to show his people that he was not one to back down from a fight.

"Haven't you already underestimated out numbers?" Edmund challenged, "I mean, only a week ago, Narnians were extinct."

"And so you will be again." Miraz replied venomously.

"Well then you should have little to fear." Edmund said.

Miraz instantly burst out into laughter. Lily flinched at the sound but remained where she was.

When he was done laughing, Miraz said, "This is NOT a question of bravery."

Edmund refused to back down, "So you're BRAVELY refusing to fight a swordsman half your age?"

Lily couldn't help herself, she murmured quietly to herself "More like a third."

The guard near her smiled slightly before retaining his composure.

Miraz leaned forward in his seat and said in a dangerously quiet voice, "I didn't say I refused."

A council member sitting at the end of the table spoke up, "You shall have our support your majesty."

Miraz turned to look at him, the council member continued and said, "Whatever your decision."

The council member to Miraz's right also decided to put in his opinion, "Sire, our military advantage alone provides the perfect excuse to avoid what might otherwise be..."

The council member was cut off by Miraz quickly rising from his seat and drawing out his sword.

"I am NOT avoiding anything." He said angrily.

Taken aback, the council member tried to explain himself, "I was merely pointing out that my Lord is well within his rights to refuse."

The guard watching the door interjected and said, "His majesty would never refuse, he relishes the chance to show the people the courage of their new king."

Exasperated, Miraz decided to put an end to this, "You." He said, pointing his sword at Edmund, Lily twitched a little but decided to do nothing. "You should hope your guardian's sword is sharper than her pen."

Lily nervously shifted in her spot. She did hope that her sword was sharper than her pen, if she lost this duel, not only would she lose her life, but she would cost the Narnians their freedom.

As they walked back, she knew that Edmund was also thinking the same thing.

"You don't have to do it you know." Edmund said quietly. "I could go in your place."

Lily turned to face him and said firmly, "No, you're the King; I will not let you die because I was too much of a chicken to have a duel with a stupid Telmarine."

They said nothing the rest of the way back to the How.

-::-

Peter hurriedly rushed around the How trying to get everything ready for the war, he had discussed with Caspian earlier about how their war strategy was to work out if the duel failed.. Their obvious weakness was their number of soldiers. Half of them had died during the raid, so they had to make up for it in some other area. They had decided that they would wait until the next day to start the war, mainly because Lily had been injured from the fight with the hag and werewolf earlier in the day and would be in now shape to fight with Miraz. They had confirmed it already with Miraz since he too was tired from their long journey from the castle to the How. They had ordered all of the Narnians to sharpen their swords and to make sure that their armour was sound. The archers were all busy smoothing and clipping the tail feathers of their arrows to make sure that it would sail smoothly. They sharpened the tips of the arrows and made sure that their bow was strong and steady.

The centaurs were training themselves in the field, practicing on one another and working their muscles. Lucy and Susan were also going to wait until the next day, but Lucy was rather anxious to get a head start on finding Aslan so they agreed to let her go on her search until midnight, when the horn sounded, she was to return as quickly as she could back to the How.

Lily was resting in Susan's room. She was feeling rather tired and had decided to sleep earlier than she normally would. She had already sharpened her sword and her armour was beings strengthened by one of the centaurs.

The How was in a busy buzz as its occupants prepared themselves for battle. Even after all these preparations, would they be ready?

**A/N: So… did you like it? I worked hard to make it EXTRA long for you guys to reward you for your patience. LEMME KNOW by clicking the REVIEW button. They are virtual cookies for me. So be nice, and feed the hungry.**


	4. Almost Ready

Lily woke up extra early the next day to prepare for the inevitable duel to come. She had gotten up as soon as she heard the guards switch position. There were two groups of guards protecting the How, the night guard and the day guard. The day group guarded from sun rise to sunset; when it was the end of their shift, the night guard took over. She heard the thump and clanging of some of the guards' armour and decided that now was the time to get up. At first, she was a bit reluctant to leave her brief paradise of warmness in the midst of the blankets, but she decided that if she wasn't going to practice her sword skills, she should at least take a brief walk outside and get her mind ready for the duel.

She tied her auburn hair back into a high pony tail and donned her cloak and boots, after a moments thought, she decided to strap on her belt and sword just in case. One could never be too careful.

She walked out of the How and into the forest. The forest was quiet; the usual whisper of the leaves brushing against each other, whispering quietly was absent. The branches did not sway with the wind. They did not reach down to gently tickle Lily's face as she walked by. No, they did none of those things. It was if they knew that today was the day that their fate would be decided. It seemed like all of Narnia, even the wood and the woodland creatures were setting the mood for the duel. It was indeed a very sombre day in Narnia.

As she walked through the forest of silent, un-dancing trees, she remembered Lucy telling her about the dream that she had while she and her siblings were travelling with Trumpkin. She told Lily about how she walked through the woods and spoke to the trees, telling them to wake up. She told her about the dryad, how it had floated beside her, laughing and guiding Lucy towards the tree archway that had eventually lead to Aslan. When Lucy had told Lily about her dream, Lily had laughed at how silly and naive Lucy's dream was. It didn't seem so silly anymore. The realness of the situation hit Lily head on as she stared at the frozen tree before her, if only there was a way to wake the trees up. What would they say? Would they speak of the torture and grief that racked Narnia for 1300 years? Would they tell tales of watching Cair Paravel crumble, watching their brothers and sisters being chopped down and used as firewood for the cold, cold Telmarines?

She shook her head of the morbid thoughts and decided to head back to the How. The forest was bringing too many sad thoughts to her head. She couldn't afford to lose her concentration on such an important day as this. She climbed up onto one of the stone steps of the How and sat down. One of the many wonders of the How was that it had plenty of spots outside where you could just sit and enjoy the scenery. She looked thoughtfully out into the distance, mentally going through some of the manoeuvres that she knew. She was good at duelling and outsmarting her opponent, Edmund had once told her that what she lacked in strength, she made up for in speed, agility and strategy. Lily wished she could figure out this sudden rut in her relationship with Edmund. In England, everything had seemed fine. They got along, joked, laughed and teased each other. They were the best of friends. Now, it seemed as if he wanted nothing to do with her. He never spoke to her unless it was necessary.

Sighing in frustration, Lily decided that she would go speak to Edmund. She had enough problems on her plate and didn't want to risk losing her concentration during the duel. If she could solve one of her problems, she might as well fix it before it got out of hand. She wracked her brain trying to think of where Edmund would be. It was much too early for him to be awake, so the only answer would be in his sleeping chamber (or in this case, sleeping cave). She walked back into the How, and sought out Edmund's room. Naturally, it was right across the makeshift kitchen area.

She walked in, ignoring the slight whispers coming behind her about her improper behaviour. She tapped him on the shoulder and was suddenly dealt with a painful blow on her stomach.

"OOF!" she gasped out. She staggered backwards, gingerly clutching her stomach.

Edmund leapt out of bed, barely awake, and pointed his dagger at the offending person who had awoken him. He blinked a couple times before he realized that a very mad Lily was glaring at him.

"Do you always sleep with a dagger in your hand?" Lily asked angrily, still rubbing her stomach.

Edmund sheepishly looked at his dagger before tossing it onto his pallet. "Sorry." He muttered apologetically. He nodded towards her stomach and asked, "Are you okay, do you need anything?"

Lily straightened up and shook her head, "No, I'm fine."

Edmund nodded, there was an awkward silence until Edmund said, "Is there, um, a reason as to why you're in my room?"

Remembering her earlier task before she got nailed in the stomach with the hilt of a dagger, Lily nodded quickly and said, "Actually, yes, there is." She paused briefly, trying to decide how she should approach the problem, "Are you mad at me?"She asked timidly, staring at the ground. She flushed at her words; that was NOT how she wanted to ask him. Clearing her throat, she tried again, this time, in a firmer voice and making eye contact, "Are you mad at me?"

-::-

Edmund glanced away from her stare; he had been worried that she might think that. In reality, he was worried that she might not make it past the duel. She was a good swordsman, no doubt about that, but judging from his reaction at seeing her injured during that fight the day before, he had no doubt in his mind that he would go insane if she died during the duel. Instead of trying to spend as much possible time as he could with her, he had opted to distance himself from her. He knew Peter, Susan and Lucy disapproved of his behaviour, but he didn't care, it was his way of handling things.

"No, I'm not mad. I'm just worried." Edmund paused before turning his head and looking straight into her grey-green eyes. Her eyes always mesmerized him. Whenever she was angry, sad or frustrated, there always seemed to be a raging battle in her eyes. It was like a constant battle between the grey and the green in her eyes. Grey was usually the victor whenever she was angry, sad or depressed, however, green would win whenever her emotions where even the slightest bit joyful. When she wasn't feeling happy or sad, it would be like a storm; both colours fighting it out.

He swallowed and continued on, "I just..." he took a breath, "I don't want you to go." He finished lamely.

Seeing her confused looked, he sighed and quickly strode over to where she was standing and enveloped her in a bear hug. He felt her stiffen. He would have laughed at the situation had it not been so serious. He felt her gingerly wrap her arms around him and pat him awkwardly on the back.

"Ed." She said quietly.

His only response was to hug her tighter. He heard her sigh and felt her fingers stroking his hair in an odd petting motion. He grinned at silly situation they were in. He would have explained himself had it not been for Peter, who suddenly walked into the room holding a piece of bread in his hand. He stopped short at the sight before him before his face broke into a grin.

Lily and Edmund sprang apart both blushing profusely even thought nothing had REALLY happened. It seemed like Peter's grin was suggesting things.

"It was-"Edmund started

"It's okay!" Peter said loudly, over Edmund. "I understand. I'll just leave you two. Don't get too busy okay? We do have a duel soon." He gave Edmund a wink before sauntering out of the room, whistling.

Edmund and Lily glanced at each other before breaking in laughter. They laughed so hard, that they had to clutch each other for support.

-::-

After their heartfelt "talk" Edmund had agreed to help Lily on getting ready for the duel. They both felt that it was necessary that she practice before she had the actual duel, even though the number of soldiers she had injured or killed during the attack upon the castle told them both that she would be prepared enough.

After four hours of training and duelling, they were both sweaty and very tired, and it was only 11 o'clock. Edmund forced Lily to go take a nap before noon, he actually had to physically push her into her room and stand there until he heard her sigh and get under the blankets and onto her pallet. He had then requested that one of the fauns prepare a small meal for her when she woke up.

He himself went to go find his siblings; he wanted to make sure that they had a back up plan, should the duel turn out for the worst.

-::-

Peter couldn't have been happier. Sure, Narnia was at war, and there was a cruel tyrant trying to take over the country, but still, at that moment, he was sure that there was no animal, creature or person who was happier than he was at the moment. The reason for his happiness was the scene that he saw when he had walked into Edmund's room. He had originally gone to the room to wake him up, but had quickly made a detour to the kitchen area to fetch himself a hearty breakfast of bread and butter. Hey, just because they were at war, didn't mean that you could skip out on THE most important meal of the day.

Nevertheless, he had been ecstatic when he saw his younger brother hugging Lily, the girl whom he had gotten to know through his little brother Edmund. Lily had become a family friend to all of the Pevensies during all of her summer visits. To Susan, she was like another younger sister, someone to mother along with the rest of her three other siblings. To Lucy, Lily was like a best friend, a sister and a close companion. Lily didn't treat Lucy as if she was inferior because she was younger; instead, she treated her as an equal. To Peter, Lily was like a younger sister, he cared for her in a brotherly manner, playing games with her, teaching her interesting facts and making sure that she didn't step out of line. Peter had first noticed that Edmund had started to take a bigger interest in Lily a couple years ago. Edmund and Lily had been best friends before that, pranking one another, pranking the family, studying with one another, teasing one another. For a couple years, you couldn't see one without the other; they were inseparable (except, of course, when they were asleep). Until a couple years ago, when they had both hit that time when boys grew into men and girls into women. Edmund was experiencing his voice change, and Lily had found it extremely funny whenever Edmund's voice cracked. Edmund had laughed non stop when Lily had first gotten her period but the sinker was when he had noticed that Lily's chest was no longer as flat as a pancake. He had cried out obnoxiously, in the library when they were studying together, "Lily, what ARE those bumps on your chest, I wonder?"

Lily had blushed so red, that Peter had been sure she would stay that colour forever. She had run into the library washroom, with Susan close on her tail. Peter had to pull Edmund aside and explain to him what those "bumps" were. After that, Edmund had apologized nonstop to Lily for a month. Who, eventually, forgave him, and went back to being his best friend. There were times after that, however, when there would be a slight awkwardness. Sometimes, when it was Lily's time of the month, she preferred to sit on the couch curled up in a ball and watch the sappiest movie she could find. Edmund hated watching any kind of sappy movie and would hang out with some of his male companions and would come home late, sporting a cut or a bruise. Edmund would refuse to speak to Lily about his bruise, saying that it was "guy stuff" and that she would never understand. Lily, not taken too kindly at his sexist comment, would go off into a rage and rant to anyone who would listen about stupid, immature guys. That only happened once in a while.

Anyone who wasn't completely daft or stupid could see that the two teenagers were smitten with the other. Together, they were sort of the perfect duo. Whenever Lily had a sudden impulse to do something dangerous, Edmund was the one who held her back. Whenever Edmund was too scared to take a sudden leap of faith, Lily was the one who guided him and urged him to take the jump. All of Narnia loved their Kings and Queens, but they were avid fans of Edmund and Lily. They loved any public appearance they made, they adored any accidental signs of affections from the two friends; they just simply loved seeing the two together.

As Peter walked into the War Room, he tried to quell the grin that was still stuck on his face. He saw the people that had assembled there staring at him expectantly.

"Here's the plan." He began. And thus, the meeting began.

-::-

After waking up from her nap, Lily found herself sitting on the ledge outside of the How simply staring into the woods. She was worried that she wasn't going to make it out of it alive. Despite her confidence earlier, one couldn't deny that Miraz was almost three times her senior. This meant he probably had more experience considering that, after arriving back in London after her first trip to Narnia, she hadn't had the opportunity to pick up a sword.

Lily was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Trumpkin plopping himself down beside her.

"How are you feeling oh great esteemed Protector of Narnia?" Trumpkin asked with a rather obvious grin on his face.

"Fluffy Pillows and Bed Sheets! It is rather foggy isn't it?" Lily attempted at her rather Trumpkin-ish exclamation.

Trumpkin gave her a shove before turning sombre, "This won't be an easy task."

Lily picked at one of the weeds growing from in between the rocks. "I know. What choice do I have though?"

Trumpkin shrugged and said gruffly, "You have to man-up to it and make sure you that beastly thing of a man loses."

Lily smiled sadly and replied, "Too bad I'm a girl."

Trumpkin stood up and patted her roughly on the back, "You'll make it through Lily. Don't forget, we have Aslan on our side."

Lily chuckled and stood up and exclaimed, "HUZZAH!" before marching towards the armoury with a determined look on her face, leaving Trumpkin staring at her from behind tugging at his beard thoughtfully.

-::-

"YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD IT! IT WAS THE LOUDEST FART EVER! THE WHOLE TRAIN COMPARTMENT WAS UNBEARABLY SMELLY AFTER THAT." Lily yelled loudly over the laughter of the group of fauns.

"Surely you jest!" one faun exclaimed, "Our beloved King Edmund letting out one of the smelliest farts known to man? What a tale!"

"Oh, and there was this other time-" Lily started

"LILY MARIA WALKER." Edmund shouted, his face so red that it looked like he got a horrible sunburn.

The fauns hooted with laughter and walked out of the armoury, each patting Edmund on the back while doubling over with laughter.

When the fauns had all left the armoury, Edmund's face had cooled down and he walked stiffly out of the room.

"EDMUND! Come ON! Remember that time you told that beastly cousin of yours Useless about that time I tripped and ripped the entire backside of my dress off exposing my pink underwear at one of the formal dinner occasions that your parents invited me to? Remember? And then he told everyone in your class and for at least four months, and then whenever those boys passed me in the streets they'd holler at me to show them my "pink panties". Remember?"

"You should change into your armour." Edmund hollered back.

"Damnit." Lily swore.

She reached for her armour and quickly put it on. She glanced at her helmet warily before grabbing it with her anyways. She twirled her sword around to give it a test in her armour and danced around the armoury for a bit, trying to get into the feel of having to move with armour on her.

"Feels ready," She murmured to herself, "FORWARD, MARCH!" she yelled in a strict military voice and marched herself out of the room.

**A/N: I know... I know. Certainly not a chapter worthy of your wait, but alas, I have no good excuses so this is my meagre apology. **


	5. The Battle

As Lily was walking forward, she began adjusting one of the buckles for her armored boots. She was so immersed in fixing the buckle that she didn't notice someone was also walking in the corridor until she bumped into them.

"Oh." The person gasped as she watched Lily fall backwards with a thunk.

"Ow." Lily grimaced while trying to get up. Armour was definitely not something you'd want to be in when you fall. Lily glanced up at the person she had bumped into and squinted in the dim light to make out the person's features.

The person was female and looked strangely familiar to Lily. She had tan skin, a long pointy-ish nose and high cheekbones. Since the lighting was dim, Lily was unable to see what colour her eyes were.

"I'm so sorry!" the girl blubbered, "I didn't even notice you! I'm trying to find my way out of this labyrinth of rooms but I can't see anything in this blasted light."

Lily frowned, "What's your name?"

The girl hesitated before answering, "Esther." She replied.

"How did you get in here Esther?" Lily asked.

"I walked in." Esther said.

"Where do you come from?" Lily inquired. She was trying to pinpoint where she had seen this girl.

"Somewhere from the North, I doubt you'll know it." Esther replied breezily.

"Tell me, maybe I'll know it." Lily pushed on.

"Trust me, you probab-" Esther began. She was cut off by the sound of heavy footsteps and a breathless Peter.

"LILY! THERE YOU ARE! Come, the fight is about to begin. Now would not be a good time to be late!" Peter cried.

"OOPS! Sorry Pete, I'll be there in a jiffy." Lily said, as she hurried out of the tunnel.

As she began her walk out of the How, she felt like everything was on mute and in slow motion. She hardly registered the fauns, centaurs and various other Narnian creatures cheering her on. The only thing that she could see clearly was the place where she and Miraz would duke it out. When she arrived at the platform, she glanced to her side. Edmund held her sword and stared at her solemnly.

"You ready for this?" he asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Lily breathed out, "Now or never right?"

Edmund stared at her before giving her a slight nod, "Aslan be with you." He murmured before gesturing towards the sword, "Signal to him that you're ready." He prompted.

Lily flexed her fingers and breathed in, in one swift motion, she unsheathed the sword given to her by Father Christmas. Its silver blade glinted in the sun as she twirled in expertly in her hands. The Narnians behind her cheered loudly and stomped their hooves, feet and paws. She looked to where Miraz was standing at watched as he to unsheathed his sword. The Telmarines lifted their shields in salute and cheered.

"For Narnia." She declared softly, before racing towards the center of the platform and engaging herself into a deadly swordfight with the tyrant known as Miraz.

Their swords met with a resounding sound that quieted the Telmarines and the Narnians. The spectators watched with bated breath as both Miraz and Lily fought each other; one with more grace and litheness then the other. Though it was clear to all who was stronger, it appeared to be quite an even match. Lily danced around him, giving him one strike after the other. He forced her backwards in front of rock until she tripped and landed on her backside. The Narnians gasped as Miraz raised his sword. Lily managed to roll on her side and kicked Miraz in the shin with her foot. She tried to get up but the heavy armour was weighing her down. Miraz, however, had no problem getting up; he kicked her in the side and watched as she fell back down on her backside. Her arms were splayed out and her shield was caught on her arm brace. Miraz stepped on the shield and Lily gasped as she felt her shoulder pop out of the joint. Lily grasped around blindly for her sword and as Miraz was in the process of bringing his sword down; she grasped the hilt of her sword and managed to block his blow in time. Fueled by adrenaline, she got home and began parrying with even more vigour. She noticed that he was limping and felt renewed to see that he too was injured. After several more blocks and parries, Miraz wheezed out, "Would the _Protector _like a respite?"

Lily nodded and gasped out, "Five minutes?"

"Three!" Miraz snarled before limping back to his seat.

Lily sat down on the rock on the Narnians side of the platform and allowed Edmund to fuss over her.

She couldn't help but notice that Susan was suddenly present.

"What happened?" She whispered to Peter.

"They were attacked…" Peter whispered back angrily.

"Telmarines?" Lily asked.

"Who else?" Peter muttered darkly.

"How's Lucy?" Lily said.

"She got through… with a little help." Peter replied.

Lily sighed, "I don't think the Telmarines will keep their word."

Peter nodded, "Me neither. His guard has a crossbow handy. That can never be good."

Lily was about to reply when Edmund suddenly popped her shoulder back into place.

"Fluffy Dandelions and Bumbling Bees! Warn me next time would ya?" she exclaimed, nursing her shoulder gingerly.

Edmund gave her a glare, "What the heck are you doing? You footwork is sloppy and your timing is completely off! Are you TRYING to get yourself killed?"

"What? No! I'm trying my best Edmund! He's got more experience than I do and isn't as out of shape as I am." She retorted angrily. She turned away and let out a breath, "Edmund, what do you think happens back home if you die here?" she paused before continuing, "I mean, I never really thought about it and you know-"

Edmund gave her a hard look before saying, "Get back out there and beat him."

Lily nodded and stood up, when Edmund gestured towards her helmet, she shook her head. Miraz, upon seeing this shoved his helmet away, not wanting to be out performed by the Protector.

The duel continued on until Lily landed a lucky blow that brought Miraz to his knees, Lily had her blade poised and read to strike when she felt a strange calmness wash over her. Suddenly, all of the rage and determination that she had felt during the battle melted away as she stared into Miraz's eyes. She knew that it was not her that should give Miraz his killing blow, she was not worthy of that honour.

"What's the matter, darling?" Miraz sneered, "Too cowardly to take a life?"

Lily gritted her teeth, "It's not mine to take." She spat, and quickly turned around and walked to Caspian.

She had about a second's notice after she saw a sudden warning flash in Edmund's eyes. Miraz rose and was about to attack her when she quickly spun around and plunged her sword into the space between his thigh and groin. Miraz let out a gasp and once again fell to his knees. Lily yanked her sword out and put it back in it's place before she nodded to Caspian and falling back into place beside Edmund.

She watched as Caspian approached Miraz, sword at the ready. She saw him exchange some words with Miraz before letting out a yell and plunging the sword into the ground.

"Keep your life." he cried, "But I am giving the Narnians back their kingdom." he turned around and marched towards the Narnian Monarchs and their Protector.

Lily gave him a wide smile before turning back towards the Narnians and raising her sword. The Narnians hooted loudly and gave out a loud cheer. Their celebration was quickly cut short when suddenly, Miraz let out a loud gasp of pain. The Monarchs, Caspian and Lily all turned around and watched in horrified amazement as one of Miraz's Lords let go of the red arrow that he plunged into Miraz's back and looked on with satisfaction as Miraz fell to the ground. He turned around and shouted to the crown of Telmarine soldiers and cried out "TREACHERY! TREACHERY! They shot him! They murdered our king!"

Lily's jaw fell open as she watched the Telmarines begin to load their catapults with big, round boulders.

What happened next was a tense blur of dust, shouting and fear.

Peter suddenly span around and gestured to Susan,"Be ready!" Peter shouted. Susan readied her bow and arrows and nodded to Trumpkin.

"Peter!" Edmund cried out. He stared horrified at the oncoming Telmarine soldier behind Peter's back.

Lily raced forward and quickly killed him before he attempted to shoot Peter with a crossbow.

"Peter!" she cried out, she gestured to Caspian, "Send him in!"

She watched as Peter gave Caspian a nod. Caspian leapt unto his horse and sped quickly into the How.

A horn resounded shortly after and Peter began the countdown. "1...2...3..." he muttered.

Lily braced herself as boulder after boulder landed near the How, distantly, she heard Susan cry out to the archers, "Archers to the ready! Take your aim!"

"Stay with them!" Trumpkin shouted

"6...7...8...9... GET READY!" Peter hollered.

Suddenly, the ground before the oncoming Telmarines collapsed and thousands of soldiers fell in.

"NOW!" Susan shouted and the faint humming sound of hundreds of arrows soaring through the air passed above her. Lily watched as the Telmarine soldiers hit by the arrows let out a cry and fell back, dead into the pit.

Beside her, Edmund hastily got onto a horse and raced towards the Telmarines.

"CHARGE!" Peter shouted out, and all the Narnians sped forward.

Lily quickly raced forward alongside Peter and began attacking any Telmarine soldier that came into her path. Once again, she felt her blood boil with rage and anticipation, _This is it _she thought, _It's going to end TODAY. _

She was in the middle of trying to finish off a Telmarine soldier when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Peter freeze and stare at the rest of the Telmarine army still waiting to charge forward. She had to admit, they did look rather formidable, her heart started pounding as she watched them march forward in perfect unison.

"Well I'll be-" Lily began, before she remembered that she was currently in the middle of a duel.

She hastily finished the soldier off and ran over to Peter.

"Pete, I-" she trailed off as she watched the griffins fall out of the sky by arrows.

Peter quickly turned around and mouthed "Lucy" to Susan before staring at the approaching Telmarine army with a glazed look in his eyes.

"BACK TO THE HOW!" he suddenly yelled and raced off to dispatch another Telmarine soldier.

"NO!" Lily cried, "PETE! It's too late!"

But her cries did not deter the retreating Narnian army, she watched in horror as the boulders destroyed the entrance to the How and crush some Narnian soldiers.

Lily turned back towards the approaching army and felt a shiver run down her spine, even though things looked disastrous for the Narnians, she felt as if they could win this battle. She saw determination in every creature that passed her towards the pit. She raced towards the pit, dispatching as many soldiers as she could. She felt the adrenaline racing through her veins, goose bumps igniting along her arms and she felt renewed with energy. Everything was passing by in slow motion and she could barely hear a thing as she slashed and swiped her sword. Her heartbeat resounded in her head and she barely registered the boulders that landed near her. There was a ringing of violins playing a vibrant, glowing tune in her ears and her heart soared with the music. It spurred her on and as she killed soldier after soldier, she felt as if justice was being restored. It was if every soldier she killed represented every bad thing that had happened to the Narnians in the past 3000 years. Each soldier was one step closer to the freedom of the Narnians.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rest of the Monarchs form a line, as Peter, Edmund and Caspian ran forward, she heard the triumphant sound of trumpets ringing in her ears. She watched proudly as the Narnians slowly, but surely merged forward. They were greatly outnumbered, but they made up for it in determination and pride. Today was the day that this cruel rule that the Telmarines had over the Narnians would end. Today, was a day of justice.

Lily was so spurred on by her thoughts that she cried out, "HUZZAH!" and stabbed a Telmarine soldier.

-::-

Edmund was finding it difficult to concentrate as he watched Lily out of the corner of his eye. She was so careless! She was so engrossed in her thoughts that if she wasn't fighting with what looked to be a young, nervous rookie soldier, she would already be dead. He was quite shocked when she suddenly shouted out, "HUZZAH!" and had to fight the urge to laugh as she stabbed the soldier she was fighting with her sword at the same time. It struck him as terribly funny because it was such an odd thing to do on the battlefield.

Suddenly, there was a loud yell from the Narnian side of the field. Edmund glanced over and nearly keeled over from shock. The trees were awake! They plunged their roots into the ground and effectively destroyed the Telmarine catapults. Edmund turned to Lily and mouthed, "Lucy." to her. She grinned and raised her sword in a silent salute and turned back to the soldier she was fighting. She finished him off and ran towards Edmund.

"Well isn't that a grand sight?" she asked with a grin. "Look at them," she gestured to the Telmarine soldiers frozen in shock, "I wonder why they're so surprised, this is NARNIA after all."

The Narnian cheered as the Telmarine army ran away in fear.

"They're heading to the river!" Peter shouted, and the entire army ran through the forest towards the direction of the river.

"Aren't you coming?" Edmund turned and asked Lily as he noticed that she didn't follow.

Lily, however, didn't hear him, as she was too distracted by the sight of a girl in a white flowing dress drifting aimlessly near the How. The girl was gently prodding the dead bodies of the Narnian soldiers who had been killed and laying a strange flower on their body. Aside from her odd behaviour, Edmund didn't think the girl was a threat.

"She's just giving them flowers, let's go!" Edmund said, pulling Lily's arm.

"Something's not right… I just can't seem to-", Lily trailed off distantly and stared at the girl again, this time with narrowed eyes.

"Alright, well you can stay here, while I go watch the epic showdown that Aslan and Lucy probably have set up for us at the river." Edmund sighed and walked away, albeit reluctantly.

-::-

Lily watched as the girl flitted around, placing a white flower on each body. She couldn't see what kind of flower it was, but it didn't look native to Narnia. The flower did look familiar, but she couldn't quite place where she had seen it. Lily had been so absorbed with trying to figure out where she had seen the flower that she didn't notice that one by one, the bodies with the flower on them slowly disappeared. Lily frowned as she noticed this and started to walk forward to confront the girl.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

The girl looked up in surprise and Lily noticed that her hand twitched nervously around the flowers she was holding. Lily's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized and recalled the girl's name; she was the one that she had bumped into before her duel with Miraz.

"Esther, right?" She asked

The girl coughed twice before answering "That is correct. Don't worry, I know who YOU are." The girl's voice was tinged with a slight bit of scorn.

Lily nodded faintly and gestured to the bodies that had flowers on them, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm, uh, giving them some final respect and all that. They died during war; they deserve some kind of recognition, no matter how small." Esther replied.

"That's great and all, but why are they disappearing?" Lily pressed on.

Esther shifted nervously on her feet before suddenly plucking a petal from one of the flowers she was holding and rubbing until it broke with her index finger and thumb. She held it in front of her mouth and blew, letting the little bits of the flower petal flow with the wind.

Lily suddenly felt disoriented and light headed.

"Are you okay?" Esther asked concernedly.

"I think I need to sit down, "Lily replied back with a frown, "It has been a long day."

Esther nodded understandingly, "Why don't you take a nap?" she gestured to the grass and said, "It'll be alright, just get some sleep."

Lily nodded; it seemed like an excellent idea. This girl was so smart. Taking a nap seemed like the perfect thing to do, why didn't' she think of that?

She lay down on the grass and fell into a deep slumber.

**A/N: I admit… this chapter is kind of sloppy, but in my defense… gah, who am I kidding… I don't have an excuse I'm sorry that I haven't been updating that frequently, if you can actually believe it, I've been reading TWILIGHT fanfics instead of writing. UGH. I'm so disappointed in myself, but they're so ADDICTING! OH YEAH, that reminds me, if any of you would be so kind as to be a beta reader for me, that would be AWESOME. Anyways, as per usual, review please :D**


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